Homicide or suicide as a side effect: 2001-Paxil: Jury Awards $6.4 Million in Killings Tied to Drug

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[sSRI-Research] 2001-Paxil: Jury Awards $6.4 Million in

Killings Tied to Drug

 

 

 

June 8, 2001

 

The New York Times

Paxil: Jury Awards $6.4 Million in Killings Tied to Drug

By PHILIP J. HILTS

 

 

A Wyoming jury has awarded $6.4 million to the family of a man who

killed three relatives and himself after taking the antidepressant Paxil.

 

Though many lawsuits have claimed that antidepressants in the same

class of drugs, which includes Prozac and Zoloft, have caused suicidal or

violent behavior, this is the first case a plaintiff has won, lawyers in the

case said.

 

Charles F. Preuss, a lawyer for the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline

said the verdict on Wednesday was a surprise.

 

" This issue was raised in the early 90's, and since that time all the

scientific articles have concluded that these antidepressants do not

cause suicide or homicide or suicidal thoughts, " Mr. Preuss said.

 

The drugs have been shown to successfully treat depression and reduce

the risk of suicide that comes with severe depression. The issue in

lawsuits has been whether the drugs themselves or the illnesses they are meant

to treat are to blame for patients' violent or suicidal behavior.

 

The drug makers say that when a patient has become violent or

suicidal, it has been because the illness has overcome the effect of the drug

and the patient's natural inhibitions.

 

But researchers who have testified in the cases have said that, even

though the drugs are effective in most cases, in some patients the drugs cause

agitation and violence.

 

Lawyers in the Wyoming case, tried in Federal District Court in

Cheyenne, said Donald Schell, 60, visited an internist on Feb. 12, 1998, and

received a prescription for Paxil to treat depression. The lawyers said Mr.

Schell took two pills the next day before fatally shooting his wife, Rita; their

daughter, Deborah Tobin; and their 9-month-old granddaughter, Alyssa; and

himself.

 

Ms. Tobin's husband and Mr. Schell's sister filed a wrongful death

suit against SmithKline Beecham, which merged last year with Glaxo

Wellcome to form GlaxoSmithKline.

 

During the trial, the eight jurors heard that Mr. Schell had taken

Prozac years earlier for depression, but that he had stopped taking the drug

because he became agitated and experienced hallucinations.

 

The family's lawyers, James E. Fitzgerald of Cheyenne and Andy

Vickery of Houston, told the jury that the fault was not so much in the drug

itself but in the company's failure to sufficiently warn doctors and patients

that the effects of the drug could include agitation and violence.

 

Mr. Vickery said in a telephone interview that in Germany, warnings

are included on the packages of at least two drugs in this class, Prozac and

Paxil. The Prozac package warns that the drugs could lead to suicide attempts.

The Paxil package says a sedative should be taken with the drug.

 

Those warnings are not on packages in the United States, but the

insert for doctors says, under the heading " suicide, " that " close supervision of

high-risk patients should accompany initial drug therapy. "

 

In 1991, experts reviewed whether this class of antidepressant might

incite violence and concluded that it did not and that no additional warnings

should be included on packages.

 

--- End forwarded message ---

 

 

 

 

 

Drug-Free School Zone? Just Say NO to Prozac for Children.